Page 22 of The Gargoyle's Grace
Chapter11
Grace
“What?” My hands tingled as adrenaline surged through my body. Surely, he hadn’t been so bold. I almost certainly had misunderstood what he’d said. I had to have.
Magnus sat at the round dining table casually, as though he didn’t have a care in the world. He was wearing the green linen shirt that brought out his eyes best and black suede pants. He looked like walking lust.
But he sat there like he hadn’t just dropped a bomb between us as I reeled. “The debt has been paid. You’re never to go back there again. Promise me.” He slid the jewelry across the table toward me, the metal grating softly against the wood.
Emotions warred under my skin. Naturally, unbridled rage presented first. I flushed hot as I picked up my necklace and my mother’s ring. “You had no cause to do that. Nor any right to tell me where I will and will not go. I’m a grown woman and can make my own decisions in that regard, thank you.”
“I know full well how capable you are, Grace. I meant no insult.” His voice was low and soft, acceptance in his eyes for whatever vitriol I spewed his direction.
“Could have fooled me,” I sniped. “We were doing just fine, I was all set to make the payment next week—”
“And now you don’t have to. I take care of what’s mine, Grace.” His tone was firm, a layer of heat coating the last.
“I never asked you to do this.” My hands trembled as adrenaline rushed through my veins. He inhaled deeply, nostrils flaring as he calmed himself down. I was baiting him. I was downrightspoilingfor a fight, and the fact that he wasn’t falling for it infuriated me further.
“Your parents can finally enjoy their retirement. You can stop worrying yourself sick over it all. No more doing things like picking up shifts at the beer garden, though we both know that was a double-edged plan from the beginning.”
“It wasn’t your problem to solve.” My voice caught as the threat of tears tightened my throat.
His mouth ticked as he flinched from the change in my emotion. “No, but it was something I could easily do to help you. So I did.”
“How dare you …insertyourself where you were asked not to interfere. In fact, I remember telling you quite clearly to stay out of my business.” Emotions collided messily in my chest, I leaned over and slapped him across the face. Immediately, I gasped, shocked I’d done it. My hand tingled, and while his face had turned to the side with my blow, his expression remained the same neutral it had been as he shifted it right back.
“I did it knowing you might hate me for it. It was the only option.” He laced his fingers together on the table, his whole being still and serene. While everything in me rioted, he sat there calmly. Just watching. It was maddening.
“I do,” I said, but there was no heat behind my words. “I do hate you for it.” Even as I said it, I knew it was a lie. Relief surged through me, a cascade of warmth in my veins and realizations that I could finally relax.
“I accept that,” he repeated, but he didn’t move. He knew it was a lie too.
I slid into the chair, head spinning as I stared at the jewelry. “I’ll pay you back,” I muttered, furious that there were tears in my eyes as I looked up at him. “Every cent.”
“I’m not interested in your money, Grace. Nor your father’s. I did this because I wanted to, not because I wanted to assume your debt and simply be a kinder usurer you owe.” His eyebrows slanted down, his mouth pursed as though he’d eaten something sour.
“I cannot owe you, Magnus. I don’t wish to oweanyone. Rylan skirts the issue by claiming the rent he sends for my parents is an arrangement that’s simply a benefit of my employment. But it’s still a gift that weighs on my conscience.”
“You’ll have to take that up with him. I don’t have any involvement with those affairs. But as far as I’m concerned, you owe me nothing now and never will. Not for that. It’s just money. More will come in, and more will go out. It is inconsequential in the grand scheme of the tides of time. But your happiness? Your freedom? Those are worth a value greater than measure.”
Inside, I was screaming, willing him to understand, but I was also grateful that he was ready to face my wrath over such a thing and a melted puddle because of his sweet words.
“Justmoney?” I scolded. “Only those with too much coin and too little sense speak of it so casually.”
The corner of his mouth twitched, his effort at fighting a smile nearly lost. Had he done so, or laughed at me, I would have lost all control of my temper. “Perhaps. You’re welcome to be angry about that as well, if you need to be. I can bear it all, Grace, whatever you need me to carry, I can manage.”
A long silence fell between us. Internally, I unraveled cell by cell, my panic only enhanced by his patient, understanding silence. I had to try three times before words would form again. “Thank you,” I finally grated out.
His eyebrows shot up, shock taking the place of frustration on his handsome features. “What?”
“You heard me. Please don’t make me repeat it.”
The battle I’d been fighting was lost. Relief and gratitude won out over anger by a long shot. The edges of my mother’s ring pressed into my cheek as I sobbed into my hands.
“Grace.” I heard Magnus’s chair scrape angrily against the floor, then his warmth wrapped around me as he hugged me to his chest. He let me get it all out, a solid presence as I cried into his shoulder while his hand stroked my hair.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized, mortified I’d cried at all but especially all over him.
